How Tom Brady Could Join NRL’s Prime Time Party In Las Vegas | Locker Room
The National Rugby League and Fox Sports are close to finalizing a broadcast arrangement that will bring rugby league to 72.4 million American households. And DAVID RICCIO suggests Tom Brady may have a hand in it all.
Tom Brady's candid appraisal of Reece Walsh.
Don't scoff; it's not impossible.
The National Rugby League and Fox Sports are close to finalizing a broadcast arrangement that will give rugby league the best chance to reach its greatest audience ever.
Fox Sports 1, a premium television network in the United States with the potential to reach 72.4 million homes, is close to finalizing an agreement that will allow them to broadcast the NRL's historic 2024 season opener in Las Vegas on March 2.
In the first year of the NRL's five-year strategy to break into the enormous US market, four clubs—Walsh's Broncos, the Rabbitohs, the Roosters, and the Sea Eagles—will go to Las Vegas.
There has never been anything like the effort being put in by the NRL and all four clubs behind the scenes to attract a new audience and, more crucially, more sponsors and cash back into the game.
Brady is just one player who exemplifies the sport's aspirational level.
The greatest NFL quarterback of all time signed a 10-year, $A545m contract with Fox last year and will begin his broadcasting career for the network in 2024.
Fox Sports and the NRL are going to talk about the possibility of Brady, who draws in even indifferent sports fans, appearing in some capacity for the season opener.
In ARL Commission chairman Peter V'landys come with me or be left behind mission, Brady is just one cog. Americans are fascinated by Australians regardless of whether they are familiar with rugby league.
When planning something like this, "you don't ever really have a bad phone call" to the United States, an NRL employee told this publication.
"Oh my god, Aussies, sports, yes please," they exclaim. Amazing levels of excitement have been expressed. There is never any rejection.
V'landys is not a stranger to ambitious plans, of course.
In his role as Racing NSW boss, V'landys caused a stir in Sydney in 2018 by projecting a barrier draw of The Everest onto the sails of the Sydney Opera House.
For the next eight days, this story was front and center across the country and around the world, appearing in 7,523 news stories across radio, TV, print, and the internet.
In addition, a total of over 57 million people could have seen the tweets about the coverage.
The NRL and its clubs are planning a trip to the United States in an effort to steal some prime time NFL airtime, get some press in the Los Angeles Times, and meet with the hosts of the most popular sports shows in the country.
The NRL's ability to tell their story is crucial, not just in Australia but also in the United States.
The National Rugby League (NRL) has received an immediate boost to its credibility as a result of the scheduling of a historic doubleheader on the channel Fox Sports 1 in the United States.
The Saturday night doubleheader will begin at 6.30 p.m. (US local time), and the games will last until 8.30 p.m. (US local time). The sequence in which the games will be played has not yet been decided.
That's your moment to shine, youngster.
Because there are no games being broadcast from the National Football League or Major League Baseball during that time, the National Rugby League has a unique opportunity to draw in new viewers on Fox's primary sports channel.
The NRL hopes that by the end of the five-year arrangement, this will be the permanent home of rugby league.
Fox Soccer Plus, a Fox-owned cable network, is currently the only U.S. outlet for rugby league broadcasts.
Every week, three NRL matches are shown.
The promotion to Fox Sports 1 is a first of its kind and a lucrative opportunity for the network.
Industry experts have told this column that the NRL could make half a billion dollars for the game of rugby league over the course of five years if the game were broadcast to 72.4 million homes.
That's a lot of cash to put into grassroots organizations and sports in rural areas.